Hairy Flower Wasp Scolia soror

What are Hairy Flower Wasps?

Hairy Flower Wasps are native to Australia. They belong to the wasp family Scoliidae and occur throughout most parts of Australia. They are large wasps with body lengths that usually measure from 1 to 3 cm although some can reach almost 4 cm in length – and that is large for an Australian wasp.

There are two main groups of Hairy Flower Wasps that occur within Victoria.

The flower wasp most frequently seen in the back yard of most Victorians is. These wasps will most likely be seen flying just above ground level and in particular flying near or around compost heaps, wood heaps or dead stumps of trees. They can be easily recognised by:

their wings, which have a distinctive, metallic, blue-purple sheen

their size, which is usually 2.5 to 3.0 cm

their colour, which is predominantly black

their wing veins, which do reach the margin of the wing

their antennae, which are short.

Scolia sororSource: Museum Victoria

The second group is called Campsomeris. These wasps will also be seen flying at ground level in similar situations to Scolia soror. Campsomeris Flower Wasps are easily recognised by:

their size, which is up to 3.0 to 4.0 cm

their colour, which is predominantly orange-yellow

their wings, which are also yellow in colour.

Campsomeris Flower WaspSource: Museum Victoria

Why are they called flower wasps?

Like most insects that visit flowers, Hairy Flower Wasps drink nectar. Nectar provides them with food energy in the form of sugars that they use to power their wing muscles.

Flower wasps are frequent visitors to flowers and due to their size and colour, are extremely obvious when sitting on a flower.

What are they doing in my backyard?

Adult female flower wasps are designed to dig. They are large and powerful wasps. The female wasps are often seen visiting compost heaps or wood piles or flying around the dead stump of a tree. They are searching for scarab beetle grubs (such as the Christmas beetle group) in the ground and are quite capable of digging into compost heaps or saw-dust of a tree stump to find beetle grubs.

Most wasps feed on other insects. Some, like the paper wasps catch their prey and kill it immediately to feed their young. However, many wasps have developed the technique of paralysing their prey and laying an egg inside the host. The hatched larva then feed inside the living host. Flower wasps are one such group of wasps.

Having located a beetle grub, the female stings and lays an egg inside it. The sting from the wasp does not kill the beetle grub but only paralyses it. There is a good reason why the female wasp does not kill the beetle grub. If the sting were to kill the beetle grub, then its tissue would immediately start to rot and decompose. When the wasp egg hatches inside the paralysed beetle grub it is surrounded by living tissue – the food that it needs to eat. The developing wasp larva knows which parts of the beetle grub to eat first to prolong the grub’s life for as long as possible; thus maximizing the chances of complete development of the wasp larva.

What are parasitoids?

An insect that slowly kills its host, usually near the end of the larval development is called a Parasitoid. This contrasts to the term Parasite in which the host usually is not killed.

Parasitoids are important natural population regulators in the insect world.

Do they live in colonies?

No – flower wasps are solitary and do not make a nest or form a colony. If you see several flying around a compost heap or tree stump it simply means that several wasps have found the area.

Do they sting and if so what will happen?

Yes – flower wasps do have a well developed sting. However, unlike a honey bee or a paper wasp, flower wasps do not have a nest or colony to protect, and therefore are not aggressive.

Importantly, they will not attack people for just being near where they are searching for food.

The only way you could get stung by a flower wasp is to accidentally stand or sit on it. This can occur as the flower wasps fly at ground level looking for beetle grubs.

To our knowledge, no one has ever had a problem with the sting of a flower wasp other than the pain of the sting itself. Usually the application of a water-ice pack placed on the sting site will quickly reduce the pain and swelling. Unlike the honey bee, the barb of the sting will not remain in the victim’s skin.

How can you or discourage them?

To discourage the flower wasp, you would need to remove it’s habitat from your area. However, there are a number of good reasons to leave it be.

Flower wasps are native to Australia

Flower wasps are solitary insects so do not develop a colony like a honey bee or European wasp

Flower wasps are not aggressive wasps

Flower wasps are useful for maintaining the populations of other insects – your own natural spray can!

Flower wasps have an amazing life cycle

Flower wasps will rarely sting you; if stung, the only consequence will be the pain of the sting.

I live on the Central Coast NSW and last week noticed and took photos of a large brilliant blue wasp attempting to place a large white curl grub into a hole on the side of a wooden sleeper surrounding my garden bed,it took some searching to find an answer to my querie and it looks to be a Hairy flower wasp ,are they usually found up in this area as well as Victoria ,I had not seen one before.

Thank you so much for helping us to identify this beautiful creature (that sadly we were wary of and therefore ...) Now that we know, we will definitely leave them be and be grateful that they are in our garden! (especially given the grub attack on one of our gums that we have had trouble controlling with putty!) Thank you!

Hi Harry, I wouldn't have thought the presence of galls would have much of an impact on Scolia soror numbers. The adults would be visiting plants for nectar rather than galls. They may also be in a garden in large numbers if it has lots of well composted garden beds, tree stumps and other areas containing beetle larvae for them to catch and paralyse for their young.

Hi, we live in postcode 2905 and appear to have dozens of these (Scolia soror) wasps lazily flying around our front yard amongst the agapanthus. Except ours seem to have antennae measuring approx 1 cm in length. We have a forest litter mulch down which is decomposing well and obviously have grubs in the soil as the Magpie's are constantly picking through the mulch. We are not sure where they have come from as other houses in the street seem to be free of this insect. Can we discourage them as many of our visitors seem to be scared of the insects especially when we seem to have so many flying about at one time. Thanks

Hi Luke - there probably isn't any real need to discourage them as they pose no real threat, as the information above says. However, there are some pointers in the information above on measures you can take to discourage them.

I have been stung 5 times by this or maybe it was the black flower wasp with the irresent blue wings. The first 4 times I was clipping the hedge where they were. The last time I was hosing close to the hedge. Could the hot weather cause them to be aggressive?

Hello, I live in the postcode of 2905 and I also have noticed a lot of these wasps. The wings on these wasps in our garden are a beautiful shiny blue color. Absolutely beautiful. I am glad they are a native insect.

thank you for this info!! we have had alot of problems with bee's and wasps in the past couple of years. its nice to have a "friendly" wasp in the front yard! we have anywhere between 5-20 at anytime! if they dont have a nest or a colony where do they live??

It is a pity the "official" photograph doesn't show the brilliant colour of the wings. I assume it is a structural colour and not a pigment.Perhaps the photo is at the wrong angle to show the colour, or perhaps the structure changes post-mortem and the colour is no longer there.The colour of the wings is what attracted me to the wasp.

Got a shock to see this big insect today -postcode 2035 sydney - they maybe transmit a noise?? As from nowhere my cat appeared and was mesmerised by the wasp. Then decided to swat it and it flew away, glad he wasn't stung!

Hi Rebecca, I presume that these wasps when not searching for food for themselves or their young would simply rest in a sheltered, protected spot. We have seen them flying but have not been able to find concrete information on where they reside. Perhaps on the underside of leaves or in dense shrubs or under loose bark etc.

For the past 22 years of living in Diamond Creek (3089), I have never seen these wasps before, it has only been in the last 3 to 4 weeks that they have appeared in our garden. The bright blueish colour of their wings is amazing. They are buzzing around an old tree stump and flowering plants in the garden. Normally we have heaps of European wasps but not many this year.

Thank you for identifying the ginormous orange-and-black wasp I've seen a few times lately in Greensborough 3088. I was familiar with the beautiful blue-black Scolia soror but this new visitor is even larger and more impressive. So far I haven't had a good look because it's been in flight (about head-height), but the size, heavy build and colour mean it is almost certainly Campsomeris.

We live in Lilydale. They first appeared, last summer, in one small spot in our garden. They are back this year in greater numbers; maybe 40 or 50. They buzz around, in these great numbers, beside an old tree stump and a heavily mulched garden. They are slowly migrating to other parts of our garden.

I just shoo'd one of these out of the kitchen (before I read this post). It was about 3cm in length and quite loud! Had found its way between a kitchen window and the timber blind and couldn't get back out. Managed to get the window open and off it went. First time I've seen one here, post code 3018. Considering the size, I'm so glad to hear they aren't aggressive.

I saw one for the fist time today and the blue was iridescent so vivid against the black body. It was near a park in Hawthorn. It wasnt aggressive and allowed me to take close up photos of it before it flew away. I love that it is a native.

I had up to twenty Scolia soro flying around my agapanthus about a month ago, postcode 2756, as per Luke mentioned from 2905.
Right near front gate with bark chip present; however bark chip present in other parts of the yard too, so I think maybe it is something with the agapanthus that were in full fower at the time. I have also noticed a white grub in the soil in this area of the yard when digging, so quite possible that they are hatching in this area assuming the adult female can dig into soil as well as rotting timber to lay larva eggs in grub. Delighted they are native. I bet my butcher birds and noisy miners got a few, although i did not observe that happening....

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Discovery Centre
14 March, 2012 15:59

Hi Susan,The above article states that the Scolia is not an aggressive wasp because unlike the honey bee or a paper wasp, flower wasps do not have a nest or colony to protect. It will therefore not attack people or animals for just being nearby their food sources.The only way that your Border Collie could get stung by a flower wasp is if it was to accidently stand or sit on it. If this does occur we recommend that you seek veterinary advice.

These wasps are beautiful. I have been observing them in our front garden (postcode 3131) for some years now. They love the grubs living underneath logs in our garden. These hairy flower wasps I noticed in the museum today, so now I know their name. They visit our garden during late summer each year and fly around our shrubs. Strange I haven't seen them on flower yet. I'll keep looking. They do appear scary, but after videoing one looking for grubs on the ground I'm less nervous around them. Thanks for the info on your site and the museum.

wow! I saw this strange ( what I thought must be a wasp ) in my garden, near my little vegie garden.. it was crawling around.. it was at least 3 cm, completely black, a shiny black, apparently hairless,, what was so astounding to me was the metallic blue on its wings.. which hid a little, as it closed them. I have never seen such a wasp in my life! .. I live in Melbourne, postcode 3041..